Why Ravenclaw? was, Re: Does the sorting hat sort?

[nibleswik]

No: HPFGUIDX 84843

<snip>
> Luna - IMHO, she's a Ravenclaw for a good reason.  Despite the 
>fact that she has shown great courage, and has faith in the 
>existence of things without concrete proof, she still has an 
>amazingly clear and realistic view of the world.  When it comes to 
> the truly important things, like acceptance of what happens in 
>life and learning from it, and dealing with death issues, or seeing 
> people's potential pretty clearly, she is a very level headed and
> wise person.  Remember, in come lores (like Native American lore) 
> the Raven is a trickster spirit who can find humor in what it 
>sees, and also sees the world a bit differently.  I feel that this 
> is manifested quite well in Luna, which brings out this side of 
>the Raven while the other Ravenclaws bring out the intellect and 
>analytical parts more.
<snip>

First of all, I want to say that I really enjoyed your entire post. 
I even agreed with most of it! How rare! Now, on to my response:

I really like your analysis of Luna. At first, your designation of 
her as a trickster set off "Huh?" bells in my head, but now I think 
you're right. I often interpret "trickster" as the Coyote kind of 
trickster in Native American folklore -- the trickster much more 
like Fred or George. The Raven is a much more Luna kind of 
trickster; it's also much more Ravenclaw in general. (It even ties 
in with the whole bird emblem!) Luna, I think, is a very good 
example that even for those who really fit in a certain house, said 
house may not be the obvious choice for them. Neville's another good 
example -- an apparent Hufflepuff whom I think is, in a way, more 
Gryffindor than even Harry. 

Your post made me start thinking about another Ravenclaw, though. 
That's right -- Cho. I don't understand for the life of me why that 
girl is in Ravenclaw! I mean, she doesn't seem particularly 
intelligent or particularly intellectually curious; she doesn't 
appear to possess Luna's odd wisdom; she's just Cho! She's just kind 
of there. Do any of you have ideas about why JKR might have put her 
in Ravenclaw? She is still a rather underdeveloped character, so 
perhaps we just haven't seen her in action, outdoing even Snape in 
Potions. She just doesn't strike me as intellectually impressive or 
impressive in any way, for that matter.

Cheekyweebisom